Multi-Omics Approaches Revealed the Associations of Host Metabolism and Gut Microbiome With Phylogeny and Environmental Adaptation in Mountain Dragons

Wei Zhu; Yin Qi; Xiaoyi Wang; Xiudong Shi; Liming Chang; Jiongyu Liu; Lifeng Zhu; Jianping Jiang

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.913700

Multi-Omics Approaches Revealed the Associations of Host Metabolism and Gut Microbiome With Phylogeny and Environmental Adaptation in Mountain Dragons

Front Microbiol. 2022 Jun 28:13:913700. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.913700. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Wei Zhu^{1

2}, Yin Qi^{1

2

3}, Xiaoyi Wang^{1

2}, Xiudong Shi^{1

2}, Liming Chang^{1

2}, Jiongyu Liu^{1

2}, Lifeng Zhu⁴, Jianping Jiang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization and Ecological Restoration Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chengdu, China.
² College of Life Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
³ Mangkang Ecological Station, Tibet Ecological Safety Monitor Network, Chengdu, China.
⁴ College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.

Abstract

The molecular basis enabling the adaptation of animals to spatially heterogeneous environments is a critical clue for understanding the variation, formation, and maintenance of biodiversity in the context of global climate change. Mountain dragons (Agamidae: Diploderma) thrive in the Hengduan Mountain Region, a biodiversity hotspot and a typical spatially heterogeneous environment. Here, we compare the liver and muscle metabolome and gut microbiome of 11 geographical populations from three Diploderma species (D. iadinum, D. yulongsense, and D. vela) after 7 days acclimation in the same laboratory conditions. Amino acid metabolism, particularly the products of the glutathione cycle, accounted for major interspecies variations, implying its significance in genetic differentiation among mountain dragons. Notably, the cold-dwelling D. vela and D. yulongense populations tended to have higher glycerophosphate, glycerol-3-phosphocholine, and kinetin levels in their liver, higher carnosine levels in their muscle, and higher Lachnospiraceae levels in their gut. Phylogeny, net primary productivity (NPP), and the temperature had the highest explanation rate to the variations in muscle metabolome, liver metabolome, and gut microbiome, respectively, suggesting heterogeneity of biological systems in response to climatic variations. Therefore, we suggested that the organ heterogeneity in environmental responsiveness might be substantial for mountain dragons to thrive in complicated environments.

Keywords: heterogeneous environment; lizard; local adaptation; multi-omics; organ heterogeneity.